Arne Treholt (born 13 December 1942) is a former Norwegian Labour Party politician and diplomat convicted of high treason and espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union and Iraq during the Cold War. Treholt's espionage is generally seen as the most serious spy case in the modern history of Norway.[1] Arrested in 1984 and sentenced to 20 years in prison the following year, the Norwegian government pardoned him in 1992 after he had served over 8 years in a maximum security prison. After his release from prison, he settled in Russia and later in Cyprus, where he works as a businessman and consultant.

Treholt was placed under surveillance by Norwegian counterintelligence services for several years of his career in the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) and the Norwegian ministry of foreign affairs. On 20 January 1984, he was arrested by Ørnulf Tofte, head of counter-intelligence, at Oslo Airport on his way to Vienna to meet with KGB officers.

Following a much publicized trial presided over by Astri Rynning, Treholt was convicted for treason and sentenced to 20 years in prison, one year short of the maximum sentence allowed under the Norwegian penal code. The conviction included espionage for the Soviet Union and Iraq, and high treason. He was eventually reprieved by the Labour government of Gro Harlem Brundtland on 3 July 1992.

Treholt was incarcerated in Drammen Prison from 1984 to 1985. He was transferred to Ila Prison, a maximum security prison for dangerous criminals, in 1985. In 1986, prison officials discovered that he planned to break out, and he was swiftly transferred to another maximum security prison for long term inmates, Ullersmo Prison.

In 1987, he married Renee Michelle Steele (1968–92), who had been a fellow inmate until her release. Arne Treholt was released from prison in 1992 after serving over 8 years. Treholt wrote on his experiences in prison in three books, Alene (1985), Avdeling K (1991), and Gråsoner (2004).

Treholt was convicted and sentenced for passing classified material to KGB in the period 1974–1983 and to the Iraqi Intelligence Service 1981–1983. The sentence also encompassed handing over secrets obtained at the Norwegian Joint Staff College where he was enrolled with authorization from the non-socialist coalition government. Despite the fact that the government of Prime Minister Kåre Willoch knew that he was under suspicion of espionage, he was admitted so as not to reveal the suspicions harboured by the authorities.

The trial led to a heated and extensive public debate about the Treholt case in Norway. The controversy concerned the evidence, and lack thereof, against Treholt, the conduct of the police and prosecuting authorities, and what was viewed as lenient treatment of Treholt while he was under suspicion, as well as his controversial pardon by Gro Harlem Brundtland's Labour government in 1992.

The police conducted two searches of Treholt's apartment. In May 1982, they found 10,000 USD in a suitcase. In August 1983 they found 30,000 USD in the same suitcase. Treholt and his lawyer later alleged that Norwegian counter intelligence services produced these evidences themselves, and that the police and the judges conspired to cheat with the cash evidence, to make it appear as if the money came from the KGB. These allegations have been refuted as untrue. Furthermore, it should be known that Arne Treholt during the trial admitted to having received money from the KGB for covering "expenses", but claimed that it could "only" have been 26,000 or 27,000 USD.

Tapes from the trial, that were released in 2014, show that the notes in the suitcase were 50- and 100 dollar notes, and not as the verdict states: 20- and 50 dollar notes.[3]

On 20 March 2006, the Norwegian News Agency (NTB) reported[4] that Treholt had been admitted to a hospital in Cyprus and was in a stable but critical condition, and in a coma, possibly suffering from blood poisoning.

On 15 December 2008 the Norwegian Criminal Cases Review Commission (Gjenopptakelses-kommisjon) ruled that the case would not be reviewed.[5] The decision is final and cannot be appealed. As a result of the decision, the prosecutor who handled the case in 2008, Stein Vale, wrote a book to summarize the case. The book – Teppefall i Treholtsaken ("Curtain falls on the Treholt case") – was published in September 2009. The chairwoman of the review commission, Janne Kristiansen, was appointed as head of the Norwegian Police Security Service (Politiets sikkerhetstjeneste), the descendant organization of the Police surveillance service (Politets overvåkningstjeneste). Kristiansen and the PST would be defending the former POT from allegations of evidence tampering later on.

In September 2010, a new book claimed that the searches of Treholt's apartment had not taken place and that one of the pieces of evidence presented in court had been fabricated by the police. On 18 September 2010, the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten wrote that an anonymous former counter-intelligence employee claimed Treholt's and his lawyer's claim of evidence fabrication was true, but a few days later the anonymous alleged former employee withdrew many of his claims, stating that he didn't know.[6] The Attorney General has asked the Criminal Cases Review Commission to look at the case again in light of the recent claims.[7] The Attorney General stated that he did not believe the outcome of the case would have been any different without the evidence in question.[8]

On 24 September, the Norwegian Criminal Cases Review Commission decided to reopen its investigation of the case, previously closed in 2008. On 9 June 2011, the commission decided that the Arne Treholt criminal case would not be reopened. Based on comprehensive interviews with 29 witnesses (18 of which were former police investigators who had been involved in the Treholt investigation) as well as forensic studies of photographs, negatives and documents, the commission unanimously concluded that there was no basis to suggest that evidence against Treholt had been tampered with or had been fabricated. In a 59-page document, the commission completely discounted the allegations made in the 2010 book.[1] After the verdict, PST-director Kristiansen, who had denied re-openening the case in 2008, demanded an apology from Treholts supporters. The demand went rejected.

2010 action-comedy Norwegian Ninja (Norwegian: Kommandør Treholt & ninjatroppen) created a fake "secret history" of the affair: Treholt was commander of a secret team of ninjas that fought enemies of the state on orders from the King of Norway, and that their centre-left political views lead to Operation Gladio framing them for treason.